Can You Speak Dog?

March 1 2016

Recently I was speaking at an event and I asked
the audience if they could tell me how dogs communicate. As I listened, it
became apparent to them that there are two basic methods of "canine speak"--
body language and vocalizations.

Body language includes: jumping, nipping, licking, tail wagging,
biting, use of the head including, ears, eyes and mouth and various other
posturing during which your dog uses his entire body.

Know that each posture means something. When your dog wants to play,
he'll
get into a play stance, which I'm sure you have seen. His front end is low, rear
end is up and wiggling and his tail is wagging. If he is approached by another
dog, that dog will recognize the stance immediately and if he's feeling playful too he might mirror the stance
and the games begin.

Which is the more important aspect of his
communication? Body language is, without a doubt. Body language is your dog's primary way of communicating with you and
other dogs. Even if he's
vocalizing, he's
backing up the message with his body language. If he doesn't want to play with the other dog, he will stand
as tall and stiff as he can get, and his tail may slowly be waving like a
warning flag. Hopefully the other dog recognizes the signals and decides that
it might not be a good time to play.

When we work with our clients, we spend part of the time educating
them about canine communication and what some of it means. Why? In order to
communicate clearly and easily with anyone you have to know the language. Dogs
don't
speak English, French or any other human language -- they speak dog. They can
learn to associate words with actions such as come, sit, stay, down, etc. but
if we use our body language, in a canine way, to match our message the process
is sped up.

Let me give you an example. Let's say my dog and I visit a dog park (which
sometimes can be dangerous). I walked into the middle of the park and just
lowered my height and excitedly tapped my leg. Five dogs immediately started to
come towards me. I stood up straight and stiffened my posture, almost at
attention, and every one of the dogs stopped. I lowered my height again and
they came. I didn't
utter a word. I only used my body language and they understood. Try it with
your dog and see what happens.

It's
human nature that most people call their dogs while standing straight and tall.
If your dog doesn't
come, you call louder and sterner. Your body language and vocal tones aren't matching your message from a canine
perspective. By lowering your height, you are more closely matching the
inviting play posture.

Add a happy, excited "come" and your vocal
message will match your body language and your dog will have a much better
chance at understanding what you want.

When you learn to communicate clearly, in a canine way, your dog has a
better chance of understanding your message. When he understands, he'll be more likely to respond correctly. When he
responds correctly he'll
get praised.

When he gets praised he gets happy. We know the rest of the story -- happy dogs = happy
families!

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